Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft
History & Significance
The Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft, often referred to as the Lowestoft Raid, was a naval battle fought during the First World War between the German Empire and the British Empire in the North Sea.
The German fleet sent a battlecruiser squadron with accompanying cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Friedrich Boedicker, to bombard the coastal ports of Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Although the ports had some military importance, the main aim of the raid was to entice defending ships to sail, which could then be picked off, either by the battlecruiser squadron or by the full High Seas Fleet, which was stationed at sea ready to intervene. The result was inconclusive: nearby British forces were too small to challenge the German force and largely kept clear of the German battlecruisers, the German ships withdrew before the British fast response battlecruiser squadron or the Grand Fleet could arrive.
In February 1916, Admiral Reinhard Scheer became commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet and commenced a new campaign against the Royal Navy. An important part of his strategy was to make raids into British waters to lure British forces into battle, in conditions advantageous to the Germans. A proposal was made to bombard towns on the east coast of England at daybreak on 25 April along with air raids by Zeppelins the night before, would provoke British ships to respond. The raid was timed to coincide with the expected Easter Rebellion by Irish nationalists, who had requested German assistance.
Immediately before the raid, the German Navy believed that the British had strong forces in the North Sea, off Norway and off the south-east coast of England. The Germans intended to sneak out between the two forces to bombard the English coast and then attack whichever British force appeared first. With luck, the German battlecruisers could engage the south-east force and after defeating it would run back to the north-west, meeting the northern group in the area around Terschelling Bank. Here the battlecruisers would attack the second British group from the south and the main body of the High Seas Fleet would attack from the north. If successful, the High Seas Fleet would destroy significant elements of the British fleet before the main body of the British Grand Fleet could assist, reducing or eliminating the Royal Navy's numerical superiority. If the British did not take the bait, then merchant ships could be captured and British units off the coast of Belgium destroyed.
The forces sighted by Germany in the North Sea had been part of a raid launched on 22 April, to draw out the German fleet but this did not go to plan. The battlecruisers HMAS Australia and HMS New Zealand had collided in fog off Denmark, causing serious damage to both ships. Later, the battleship HMS Neptune collided with a merchant steamer and three destroyers were also damaged in collisions. The mission had been abandoned and the ships returned north to port; on 24 April the main body of the Grand Fleet was near its bases of Rosyth for the battlecruiser squadron and Scapa Flow for the remainder of the Grand Fleet.
The ground they fought on
The site of Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft lies on Neogene To Quaternary Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Quaternary. The rock here is gravel, sand, silt and clay.
- 25 killed; 19 wounded; 2 light cruisers damaged; 1 submarine sunk; 200 houses shelled
- 11 killed; 1 cruiser damaged; 1 submarine sunk; 1 submarine captured
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- Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft · Wikidata
- Bombardment_of_Yarmouth_and_Lowestoft · Wikipedia